“I had a great time today, Countess.”
“Yes, it was.”
“Please invite me again next time. The tea was really delicious, wasn’t it?”
In a friendly atmosphere, the tea meeting ended safely. Pristin bid farewell to each of the nine empress candidates, still wearing a smile on her lips.
But there was one person, Tanya, who remained in her seat like a statue, not returning to her palace. Pristin noticed this and asked with a perplexed voice.
“Aren’t you leaving, Princess Gennant?”
“…”
“You look like you have something to say to me.”
Pristin kept a faint smile on her lips, waiting for Tanya to speak. However, Tanya remained silent, her lips tightly sealed as she glared at Pristin. And yet, Pristin was still smiling.
“I hope you liked today’s tea party.”
“Did you do that on purpose?”
“What do you mean?”
“To humiliate me!”
Tanya shouted angrily, her voice echoing in the distance.
“How chilling. Is that how you wanted to become the queen bee among the nine candidates?”
“I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”
Pristin chuckled, as if it was nothing.
“It seems like you were greatly shocked by the soap incident, Princess Gennant.”
At the same time, Pristin slowly moved toward Tanya. Tanya, swaying, did not step back but instead stared at Pristin, her eyes wide open.
Pristin bent her upper body, whispering to Tanya.
“Don’t you think I saved you, Princess?”
“…What did you say?”
“That’s right.”
Pristin lowered her voice even more.
“A candidate for the empress, blinded by jealousy, presented her fellow candidates with a soap containing sterol.”
“…”
“If this turns out to be true and gets to His Majesty’s ears, you know what will happen next, right?”
“I’m not guilty. I didn’t know.”
Tanya abominably denied her guilt to the end.
“But the countess has her suspicions, doesn’t she?”
“That’s true.”
Pristin suddenly straightened her posture, her smile disappearing from her face.
“But this is the last time, Princess Gennant. Don’t ever do something like this again. I won’t forgive you twice.”
“…”
“You should go now. You must be tired from today.”
With that, Pristin maintained her smile until the end, which only fueled Tanya’s anger. Tanya’s face turned reddish-blue, as if she could explode at any moment, but she ultimately didn’t retaliate and left the reception room.
Alone, Pristin was approached by Aruvina.
“Why didn’t you reveal the truth? If you had revealed what the princess did, the situation could have escalated even more.”
“Well…”
Pristin responded skeptically.
“Wouldn’t it be enough to deny it by saying she didn’t know?”
“But…”
“The Gennant family is a distinguished family. It won’t crumble just because of this incident. If I wanted to bring her down, I would need a more definite defeat.”
Pristin replied in a dry voice.
“I didn’t even enter the palace to take a seat next to His Majesty, I doubt it’s necessary to go that far.”
“But people don’t easily change, do they? Similar incidents will surely happen again.”
“Well, I won’t just stand there quietly next time, so don’t worry too much, Madame Korsol.”
And Pristin hoped that it wouldn’t come to that situation.
“Thank you for your concern.”
“Of course. I want to be by the countess’s side for a long, long time.”
In fact, Aruvina wanted Pristin to be the empress, but she didn’t say anything about it. Because she was sure Pristin would feel burdened if she heard.
On the other hand, Pristin also didn’t mention to Aruvina that she would leave once the empress entered.
“Anyway, it will be more effective to leave it like this today. The other candidates seems to have caught on already without adding more fuel to the fire.”
“Because the evidence is so clear. Unless something special happens, Princess Gennant will be isolated after this incident.”
“Yes. Someone kinder than her should become the empress.”
As Pristin said that, she felt a strange pang in her chest, but she ignored it and smiled.
“Shall we go to Her Highness the Crown Princess?”
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
“Pristin!”
As usual, Claret welcomed Pristin, who visited her.
“I heard the news. You had a tea gathering with the empress candidates today?”
“What? Oh, yes.”
“What’s going on? You always try to keep quiet.”
“Haha…”
Pristin smiled awkwardly, hesitating for a moment.
‘Should I tell the princess about this, or should I not…?’
Telling her would be a crude and inappropriate story for someone so young. But she felt that even if she didn’t tell her, she would eventually find out. Rumors spread quickly within the palace.
Besides, there were a total of nine victims apart from herself in this incident, so it was almost impossible for the story not to leak out. Moreover, it would be more advantageous for the empress candidates to let the emperor know about this story.
In the end, it was time for Pristin to tell everything that had happened so far.
“The thing is, actually…”
“Anyway, welcome!”
Claret—unintentionally, of course—interrupted Pristin’s words.
As a result, Pristin, whose mouth naturally shut, stared at Claret.
“I happened to be having tea with my brother.”
“What?”
“Come on, Pristin, have some tea with us.”
“Oh, no, Your Highness. I…”
“Oh, come on, don’t refuse. Come here.”
Claret grabbed the hem of Pristin’s dress and pulled her inside.
Pristin hesitated, feeling helpless, and was ultimately dragged into the room.
And inside, there was…
“Pristin.”
There was indeed Jerald.
Ah, she had hoped it was a lie. Pristin was at a loss for what expression to make, but in the end, she lowered her head expressionlessly.
“I see His Majesty the Emperor, the Imperial Sun.”
“Pristin, it’s scary when you don’t smile like that.”
“…”
Damn. Pristin heaved a deep sigh internally and relaxed her expression slightly. Only then did Claret proudly motion for Pristin to take a seat next to her.
“Come, sit next to me.”
The problem was that no matter where she sat, it was a round table, so she had to sit next to Jerald. Pristin sat as close to Claret as possible. In response, Claret immediately protested.
“No matter how much I like Pristin, sitting this close feels too suffocating.”
She said with a teasing smile, looking at Pristin.
“Move a little closer to Brother, okay?”
“…”
Inevitably, Pristin did as Claret said. Only then, a satisfied smile came to the lips of the two siblings.
After a while, the maid came up and poured Pristin her share of tea.
“I heard you had a tea party with the empress candidates.”
It was Jerald who opened his mouth first. Pristin flinched and replied.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Indeed, rumors spread quickly within the palace.
“Surprising. I didn’t expect you to spend time so closely with the empress candidates.”
“…There are reasons for that, Your Majesty.”
“Reasons?”
“Well…”
When Pristin failed to answer for a moment, Jerald and Claret stared at Pristin at the same time. Feeling burdened by their gaze, Pristin ultimately told the truth from beginning to end.
“…That’s what happened.”
And the expressions of the two people who heard the whole situation turned into astonishment.
“I,Is that true, Pristin?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. That is what happened after I completed the chemical experiment with Lord Bachell and conducted the ingredient test.”
“How could such a thing happen?”
The one who expressed the most anger was Claret.
“Just imagine, if it wasn’t sterol, Gennant would have caused even more trouble with her malicious intentions!”
“If Lord Bachell hadn’t noticed, it would have been even more serious.”
Jerald added in a relatively calm voice. But Pristin could sense from his low voice that he was very angry at the moment.
Unconsciously, Pristin swallowed a dry gulp.
“I should make this matter public and remove Princess Gennant from the empress candidates.”
“That’s a good idea, Brother!”
“No. I don’t think so.”
“Huh? Why?”
“That would completely antagonize the Gennant family. I have no intention of condoning Princess Gennant, but if you want to exclude her from the empress candidates, you need a more solid justification.”
“Is there a more solid justification than this?”
“This is soap brought from overseas. If the Gennant family claims that they were unaware, it could harm Your Majesty’s reputation without any gain. The scent of sterol is good enough to provide sufficient room for explanation.”
“Ugh… You’re right.”
“That’s why I didn’t intentionally escalate the situation. If Your Majesty ultimately wants to diminish the power of the Gennant family, you need a stronger card. Not something trivial.”
“Your point is reasonable, but…”
Jerald replied in a skeptical voice.
“There’s no need to go that far. If you set your mind to it, you can make it more severe.”
“…Even if I do that, I have no authority to interfere.”
“…”
Jerald looked at Pristin for a moment and opened his mouth.
“There is a point to what you’re saying.”
“Brother, are you really going to cover it up?”
“It’s not enough to be satisfied with just removing her as a candidate. Duke Gennant is a dangerous man. We need to knock him out of central politics.”
Jerald’s eyes turned to Pristin.
“All right. I’ll cover this up. However.”
“…”
“If something like this happens again in the future, I won’t turn a blind eye regardless of the situation. That’s for sure.”
“Of course, Your Majesty. I, too, have no intention of forgiving it a second time.”
“Good.”
Jerald’s expression, which had been firm until now, finally softened at Pristin’s response.
“Then I’ll stop talking about this. It’s been a while since the three of us got together, so let’s have a pleasant conversation overflowing with joy.”
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
Surprisingly, the tea time of the three people went by without awkwardness.
In reality, Claret was the one who was eager for this moment, but Pristin believed that if it had been just her and Jerald alone, she would have felt uncomfortable and awkward.
Anyway, Pristin had come to entertain Claret, but instead, she found herself enjoying the time and leaving the princess’s palace with great delight.
“I’ll see you again, Your Highness.”
“Goodbye, Pristin!”
However…
“See you again, Brother.”
“Yes, Claret.”
Somehow, their paths coincidentally aligned as they walked back. Pristin nervously watched Jerald and Claret exchange farewells, her gaze serious.
And after Claret disappeared completely into her room, Jerald shifted his gaze towards Pristin as if waiting.
“Shall we leave too?”
Caught off guard by his charming smile and his seemingly obvious question, Pristin felt a mix of confusion and oddly, her heart began to beat rapidly. Unconsciously, Pristin bit her lip.
